Morning Brief: Shuffle, flip and flop

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A good Wednesday morning to you and for a few Liberal MPs, it’s about to become a great morning.

Fisheries Minister Dominic Leblanc, who is mired in a mini-scandal over surf clams, is expected to take over intergovernmental affairs;

B.C. MP Jonathan Wilkinson is expected to take over at Fisheries;

Procurement and Public Services Minister Carla Qualtrough was ordered home from the Farnborough Airshow in London, suggesting she will receive a new gig;

Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly, whose dismal handling of the Netflix file has made her a punchline in her home province of Quebec, is rumoured to be headed for a demotion to Tourism and/or, perhaps, La Francophonie;

Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr and Carolyn Bennett, the Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs, are both rumoured to be contemplating retiring before next year’s election, creating some pressure on the PM to bring in some new faces.

Among the list of newbies to watch are Wilkinson, Mary Ng and Bill Blair from Greater Toronto, and Montrealer Marc Miller.

One person not getting shuffled is Environment Minister Catherine McKenna, who will be in Toronto this morning for what might be one of the more awkward meetings of the summer when she sits down with her Ontario counterpart Rod Phillips. With the newly elected Ford government vowing to scrap the province’s cap-and-trade carbon-mitigation program, creating a gaping hole in the federal climate change plans, it could be a very short meeting. McKenna has a planned media availability later in the morning to discuss Bruce Peninsula National Park, but it’s a safe bet most of the questions will be about her meeting with Phillips.

Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Ahmed Hussen. THE CANADIAN PRESS/ Patrick Doyle

Also keeping his job is Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen despite a barrage of heavy criticism of the government’s handling of the influx of refugee claimants — mainly Haitians and Nigerians — arriving on foot from the U.S. The Conservatives have been trying to make hay on the file, taking a page from U.S. President Donald Trump’s nativist agenda, but yesterday determined they had perhaps gone a bit too far with their latest advertisement. The party pulled an ad that depicted a black man wheeling his suitcase through a gap in a fence, walking across a tweet from Trudeau saying Canada welcomes refugees.

While the shuffle garnered most of the attention this week in Ottawa, a Toronto judge just slapped down one of the most controversial legacies of the Harper era — the limits placed on the political activities of charities. Justice Ed Morgan ruled the Canada Revenue Agency could not justify a restriction on charities that they spend no more than 10 per cent of their time on political advocacy, calling it an unconstitutional limit on freedom of expression. Morgan said all political activities are charitable activities so long as groups advocate “in pursuit of the overall charitable purpose.” The case was brought by the anti-poverty group Canada Without Poverty, but will be a boon for a wide variety of advocacy groups on environment, education, refugees and Indigenous affairs. Former prime minister Stephen Harper had used the CRA ruling as a ham-fisted way to stifle dissent.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford listens to Finance Minister Victor Fedeli during the first session of the 42nd Parliament of Ontario. THE CANADIAN PRESS/ Tijana Martin

Back to the Ford government’s growing pains: under fire for announcing it would scrap the province’s sex education curriculum and revert to one used in the 1990s, the Ministry of Education has now backtracked and said it will consult all 124 provincial ridings before making any changes. “We’re going to hit 124 ridings,” said Premier Doug Ford. “I think everyone is going to be pleasantly surprised. I don’t think this is the end of the world. I think it’s actually healthy. When it comes to teaching our kids, we have to consult with the parents.”

HERE AND THERE

PM Justin Trudeau will attend the swearing in of his new-and-improved cabinet at Rideau Hall this morning;

Health Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor is in Liverpool, N.S., to discuss the Canada Child Benefit and other federal programs and initiatives;

In Thunder Bay, Employment Minister Patty Hajdu announces funding to help youth get work experience in the green jobs sector;

Despite rumours that she’ll be shuffled out, Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly is in New Carlisle, QC, to announce federal funding for the development of Espace Rene-Levesque;

And heading into the home stretch of his tenure as mayor – he won’t seek re-election in October – Vancouver’s Gregor Robertson has two interesting public events scheduled today: this morning, he launches the Metro Vancouver edition of the Love Food Hate Waste Canada, at which “rescued food” will be served. Later, he helps launch ZEBx, the Zero Emissions Building Exchange, which supports the development of zero emission buildings.

Well, that didn’t take long. Just one day after throwing the U.S. intelligence community under the bus in a joint press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin, President Donald Trump is flipping and flopping. In the wake of criticism from, well, just about everyone, and pressure from Republicans to appear slightly less treasonous, the president read out a statement yesterday claiming to have misspoke and that he believed the assessment of the United States’ intelligence agencies that Russia had interfered in the 2016 presidential campaign.

AP Photo/Andrew Harnik

Never one to be reined in by scripted remarks — even those he’s marked up with reminders that there was “NO COLUSION” (sic) — Trump was sure to interject with his own off-the-cuff remarks. So he confirmed that he accepts the intelligence community’s “conclusion that Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election took place,” but also that it “Could be other people also. A lot of people out there.” Classic Trump.

In other Trump news: in an interview with Fox’s tucker Carlson the president appeared to cast doubt on the United States’ commitment to defending NATO allies. Asked by Carlson why his son should go defend the people of Montenegro, Trump responded: “I’ve asked the same question. Montenegro is a tiny country with very strong people. … They are very strong people. They are very aggressive people, they may get aggressive, and congratulations, you are in World War III.”

Google has been hit with a hefty fine by the European Commission after a three-year probe into the company’s Android operating system. The 4.3 billion euro fine is the largest penalty imposed by the regulator against a single firm. While the fine is massive, it’s a slap on the wrist for Google — which will likely challenge the ruling — accounting for less than one per cent of their market cap.

I’ll take the precious time it takes to respond to you.
Desperate Damage Control? That would be Scheer trying to outdistance himself from the disastrous CBC interview in which he acknowledged the far-ranging programs of lies and misinformation the Cons are travelling with.

And in the No amount etc portion. Incompetence comes again from Sheer when pressed on anything he says I have a plan but, I can’t talk about it now. Pressed again he said When I’m elected I will reveal all! Now, I call that INCOMPETENCE.

And on your last bit, Mistakes? Where? What? Because you don’t agree doesn’t make anything a mistake! Gaffes? What about? To my recollection, Trudeau is the most carefully spoken Prime Minister we have had. Harper, by comparison, said nothing unless it was to hurt someone. And, Bumbling stammering mincing lisping etc. would describe Kenny’s actions over the last month exactly but I don’t see them anyway applying to Trudeau.